Competition can seem pretty scary when you are first considering starting a business.  When I was first looking at starting a business I attended a seminar held by the local small business admin.  They talked about analyzing the market to check for viability and competition, etc.  Initially I didn’t even take another step because I didn’t understand that competition is healthy for a business.

First of all if there aren’t any competitors there may not be a market for what you are trying to sell in the first place, now that is scary.  Getting to know your competitors will clue you in on the market you are entering, the products that are selling and give you pricing guidelines.

If you take the time to dig around the competition will let you know what kind of people are interested in your product (demographics).  If they are interested at all in knowing what their customers think about them you will be able to determine concepts that work, what needs improving and pitfalls to avoid.

I was given a Wii game for Christmas that I had asked for to help lose the baby fat after I had my son this last December.  My husband and I don’t play golf yet in RL but we took to it pretty quickly in the game form.  At first we were playful experimenters.  Then we became more and more competitive with each other as we became more familiar with the game.  Oddly though as we got better there was a shift in mindset and I realized I was my only true competitor.

Competition should be respected, can be extremely useful, and is necessary to keep a business healthy and growing.  Ultimately though always strive for excellence, there is always room for improvement, and keep growing the way you think and your business will follow.  If you are not in it to win it someone else will be.

Transparency is one of those topics that stays in the forefront of my mind because of all the different venues in which I am seen and heard.  I ran across an article on the content that music artists release about themselves on Twitter a while back (found here).  They mention how destructive your comments can be to a career and I think it’s necessary to mention that here.

I like the way Sharon Lechter describes transparency in Why We Want You To Be Rich:

“1. Free from pretence or deceit

2. Sheer enough to be seen through.

3. Readily understood.”

I think people often mistake transparency in not being “fake” as meaning they have to tell people everything, exactly as they think and feel.  This isn’t the case though, what it does mean is: in everything you do say or represent, just don’t lie.

In the second part of being transparent Sharon talks about the idea of “sheer.”  Being selective is important when presenting who you are because of security issues but also there needs to be a standard of professionalism present.  The standard is different for every industry and has to be congruent with your goals, vision and approach.

The article I initially referenced is probably most relevant when we discuss transparency in light of being “readily understood.”  If you make a statement without consideration of your audience you are only setting yourself up for misunderstandings, of course those can be disastrous to your career.

If done appropriately and take into consideration things like lingo, how your audience perceives you already, and what exactly are you trying to achieve, transparency can be a very powerful tool.

Tim Ferriss is the author of the 4 Hour Work Week here is a link to his bio.  There are so many times when we really can’t understand where our fears started but that doesn’t mean they can’t and shouldn’t be conquered.

If you are trying to run a successful business online then advertising is one of your prime concerns because traffic is important to your success.  There are so many ways to drive traffic to your website but smart planning can save you a lot of headaches and money.  So here are some resources that will help maximize your advertising dollars.

This Free 7 Day Video Boot Camp explains in detail how you can get paid to prospect and generate an endless new stream of leads for free and earn commissions from your prospects even if they say no to your main opportunity.

Free course on how to build your business on a budget and the top 5 ways to build any home business on a budget in step by step fashion.

This is a very special one hour interview with Mike Dillard and master recruiter Mark Wieser. In this video Mark reveals how he personally sponsors up to 25 reps per month, and how you can keep control of your prospecting phone calls.

If you are just trying to figure out how to setup a campaign in Google Adwords this will give you an idea of how your keywords should be structured.  Each campaign would start with one word that should be related to your business either directly or by the keywords your customers would be looking up.

Ad groups should include the word you chose for your campaign plus one more word that will focus and direct this group.  Your keywords will include these two words and various combinations of them.  The number of additional words that you want to include in each keyword will vary depending on search traffic and ROI.

Do not mix “search” and “content,” create a separate campaign for each of these two different types of ad placement.

Let’s say we are setting up a site about networking this is how one campaign built around the word “network” would look:

Campaign Name: Network

Ad Group: Social Network

Keywords: social networking, social network, online social network, social network community

Ad Group: Business Network

Keywords: business network group, business network marketing, online business networks

Ad Group: Network Marketing

Keywords: network marketing opportunity, network marketing product, network marketing success

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There are four main types of leverage: Time, Money, Technology and Experience.

Time

You can’t leverage your own time just other people’s time.  This is done through affiliate marketing of your product, paying someone else to do something that generates you money.

Money

Has to be other people’s money, we’ve seen lots of people doing this with credit… buying real estate, etc.  If you have done any MLM you have more than likely heard this term just before they ask for your credit card.

Technology

As a society we are so linked to technology that it is crazy not to take advantage of this.  In addition the tools that are available that make running a business endeavor so much easier.  If you are struggling in this area it would be beneficial to bring yourself up to date.

Experience

Just like the other categories this is referring to other people’s experience and in this context it ranges from using it in some sort of mastermind group, to educating yourself  by gleening all you can from other people’s experiences, all the way to product testimonies.

I just expanded my lens on squidoo about how to green your business it still needs more work but I’ve got so much information it’s taking me a minute to organize it all.  But in the mean time I was checking out California’s performance on green hour and it was a bust unfortunately.

This only reinforces what I’ve been saying, it’s very hard to get proper legislation or any kind of widespread joint cooperation to reduce our global impact.  The decisions have to be made by companies and individuals to make changes because the problem is too extensive and embedded deep in our daily lives.  Every product we use, eat and create is or has already affected the environment in one way or another.

Many people taking personal responsibility will ultimately decide whether or not we succeed in making changes that make a difference.

Going green provides several areas that a business can focus on depending on the type of business. They all concern one of three areas: source, consumption and recyclability.

The most prominent focus is energy consumption this includes electricity, gasoline, natural gas and other fuels. Most businesses are focusing on trying to reduce their waste production by keeping everything electronic. This usually results in more servers and computers and other hardware that must be maintained and run by electricity.

Contrary to common beliefs electricity can be very damaging to the environment to produce. So one of the goals a company trying to become more environmentally sustainable should have is finding that balance between waste reduction and increased electricity consumption.

Some green businesses have installed solar power systems to produce their electricity. But before a company moves in this direction they need to be aware of the costs and the time it will take for this investment to pay off. This will all depend on their system and needs.

Gasoline consumption should be considered if you truly want to have an environmentally sustainable business. This includes company vehicles of course but often overlooked is delivery services. Most major delivery companies don’t just consume gasoline but jet fuel as a regular part of their business.

Some of these businesses have gone green themselves so it will be up to the business owner to do the research. Price and reliable service are not the only considerations anymore, but will weigh differently for different circumstances.

This next point is related to sustainable harvesting or production practices. This can be everything from the paper you buy to the office furniture being used and include the materials used to build your office. Questions you should ask: Is the wood harvested from sustainably managed forests? What is the percent of recycled content in your paper, cardboard, plastic and electronics? In regards to food you want to know about sustainable farming practices.

Finally, a sustainable business can take advantage of the numerous options for recycling. Ink and toner cartridges can now be recycled. Paper, plastic and electronic products can all be recycled. There isn’t a whole lot that can’t be recycled if you are willing to take the time to find out how. For most businesses this is the easiest and least expensive way to start becoming “green.”

Recycling is has often been an afterthought in the green transformation. It needs to be one of the initial considerations when making purchases and in everyday operations.

Taking your business into the realm of sustainability can seem daunting but just taking little steps will not only make it happen but it will encourage your employees and customers to take the journey with you.

I’m trying to build my own website right now I’ve got one that was built for me and of course it looks great. But I’m not very proficient with any kind of software that would help me to build one of my own. So GDI has a website builder with templates and a wizard that is walking me through the process but I can’t seem to build 2nd tier pages. Every page I add is posted on the sidebar and I don’t want that.

I’m just getting going building up this site and I want to be able to offer information that is not readily available from the homepage so if anyone knows how to manage that I would really appreciate the help. Here is the link to GDI if you would like to take a look: website.ws

Of course here is my other one that is super professional: enavagate.ws

I’m new at making videos with my webcam, I have a video camera that is handheld but I haven’t figured out how to upload the videos to my computer. So anyways I attempted to record a video of myself talking about what I’ve learned trying different make money schemes on the internet. I’m hoping that I can show others what I learned through my own personal school of hardknocks. I’ve read some of the “review” websites and found they are typically pretty limited in scope.

Well my first video I made I stumbled on my words, I was trying to feed my baby at the same time and “um” started just about every sentence. But I felt like I was getting the hang of it so I made two or three more before I tried to play them back. When I finally did play one back I realized there was no sound, oh well too bad I’ll have to have my internet debut another day:-)